1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a detection device, an electronic apparatus including the detection device, and a robot.
2. Related Art
The detection devices described in JP-A-60-135834 and JP-A-2008-164557 are known detection devices which detect an external force. The application of such detection devices to touch panels, contact sensors on robots, and the like is being investigated.
The detection device of JP-A-60-135834 has a configuration of using a force receiving sheet, on the back face of which conic protrusions are arranged substantially evenly, and detecting force distribution from the transformation amounts of the protrusions. The detection device of JP-A-2008-164557 includes contacts that are displaceable on the front face, and includes a plurality of force-sensitive elements that detect and output the displacements of the contacts using detection points.
However, with the detection device of JP-A-60-135834 described above, since the transformation amounts of the protrusions are computed from an image that is imaged by a camera, the computation amount is large and the time taken for force detection is long. Further, it is not possible to measure the force in the in-plane direction (slipping force) on the measurement face (back face) of the force receiving sheet.
With the detection device of JP-A-2008-164557, although it is possible to calculate the force in the in-plane direction (slipping force) on the measurement face (front face) by an operation, in a case when there are many detection points for each contact, the time taken to obtain the output value becomes long.
As described above, with the detection devices of JP-A-60-135834 and JP-A-2008-164557, there was a problem that neither could combine the function of detecting the presence of force quickly and the function of detecting the distribution or the direction and the magnitude of external force with high accuracy.